Health
Girl Child Day: UNICEF urges stronger parenting
Umar Sani
Parents, traditional and community leaders, as well as other stakeholders have been urged to strengthen positive parenting and invest in the education, health and future of the girl-child to address child marriage in Bauchi and Gombe states.
The call was made on Thursday during an engagement organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund in collaboration with traditional leaders, women’s groups, partners, the media and girls to commemorate the 2026 International Day of the Girl Child.
The engagement, held in Gombe, brought together stakeholders from Bauchi and Gombe states to celebrate progress, amplify girls’ voices and discuss practical measures to strengthen the rights, wellbeing, skills and opportunities of girls.
Speaking during the engagement, the UNICEF Chief of Bauchi Field Office, Dr Nuzhrat Rafiq, said positive parenting remained one of the key interventions required to end harmful social norms, particularly child marriage.
Rafiq said, “Today is the International Day of the Girl Child, and the theme is ending child marriage and investing in the girl-child.
“This is a special opportunity for UNICEF to advocate for ending child marriage. There are traditional leaders, local community people, NGOs and institutions working towards ending child marriage and promoting the rights of the girl-child.
“So, we took this opportunity to advocate across all sectors, from education, health, nutrition and social policy. We are also requesting everyone, from state partners to the House of Assembly and commissioners of these sectors, to contribute towards investing in the girl-child, which would lead to ending child marriage.”
Rafiq said the prevalence of child marriage remained a serious concern in both Bauchi and Gombe, stressing that failure to address the practice would deny girls opportunities to develop their full potential.
“The recent data tells us that in Bauchi, there is a very high percentage of child marriage and early marriage. This is also prevalent in Gombe as well.
“We cannot ignore this issue because if child marriage does not end, girls will not get the right opportunities to grow to their best potential. If girls are behind, then the nation will be behind,” she said.
The UNICEF official said girls needed access to healthcare, nutrition, education and opportunities to pursue careers so that they could contribute meaningfully to society as adults.
Rafiq said, “Positive parenting is one of the key interventions because the decision is in the hands of parents, especially fathers.
“Only positive parenting can have an impact at the community level for people to make the right decisions about their daughters and sisters.
“I have already talked to traditional leaders who were here that they need to take the lead on it. Positive parenting is very, very important. Our education sector, social policy, women’s affairs and health sector can all contribute towards positive parenting.”
She identified education as one of the most effective investments Nigeria could make to address child marriage, urging stakeholders to ensure inclusive access to education for every girl, including those living with disabilities.
“One of the best interventions is education. If you start with access to education for every girl-child and inclusive education for every girl-child, even disability inclusion is very important; every child everywhere should have equal access to education.
“Girls can study primary and go to secondary school and then grow. Meanwhile, their age also goes beyond the child marriage period. That has been one of the best interventions with multiple outcomes and multiple benefits,” she added.
Also speaking, UNICEF Bauchi Field Office Child Protection Specialist, Lafiya Alabi, identified harmful social norms and practices as major obstacles to the full realisation of the rights of the girl-child.
Alabi said many harmful practices had become accepted within communities because people considered them normal simply because they had been practised for generations.
“One of the things that we find to be a very big challenge in the holistic realisation of the rights of the girl-child is the issue of social norms, the practices that we are so used to within our environment.
“Everybody is doing it in a simple form. It looks like that is what everybody does. It looks like that is what I have to do and what everybody else has to do. These things become like social laws around us,” he said.
He explained that such norms could negatively affect girls’ education, health, confidence and future opportunities, stressing the need to work with traditional and religious leaders, communities and other stakeholders to change harmful practices.
According to him, UNICEF had been working extensively with stakeholders to create awareness about positive and negative practices and encourage communities to adopt behaviours that would protect girls.
Alabi further warned about the health consequences associated with child marriage and early pregnancy, particularly when girls’ bodies were not physically mature for childbirth.
He said early marriage could also lead to school dropout, noting that girls who leave school at the junior secondary level to get married could lose significant opportunities to pursue careers and become productive members of society.
“Once a girl drops out of school for adoption of school in JSS1, JSS2 or JSS3 to get married, the whole horizon of the girl-child is destroyed because the girl’s chances are much less,” he said.
The UNICEF specialist added that the organisation was also providing life-skills training for adolescent girls to enable them to navigate adolescence, set goals, build confidence and make informed decisions about their futures.
He said the life-skills intervention was being implemented alongside positive parenting training and other programmes aimed at protecting girls and helping them realise their potential.
The International Day of the Girl Child is celebrated annually on October 11.
This year’s celebration is themed “Ending Child Marriage and Investing in the Girl Child.”
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